Multiple position reclining chair



Sept. 25, 1962 F. F. SCHLIEPHACKE 3,055,703

MULTIPLE POSITION RECLINING CHAIR Filed Oct. 27, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.

INVENTOR.

AUDI/0F F3 5094 IEPHACKF 4r BY Mv kb Arranrvcrs p 1952 F. F. SCHLIEPHACKE 3,055,703

MULTIPLE POSITION RECLINING CHAIR Filed Oct. 2'7, 195a 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 W INVENTOR. F/QIDTJOF E :cwuspwzwr Patented Sept. 25, 1962 3,055,703 MULTIPLE POSITION RECLINING CHAIR Fridtjof F. Schliephacke, Berlin-Schmargendorf, Germany, assignor t Anton Lorenz, Boynton Beach, Fla. Filed Oct. 27, 1958, Ser. No. 769,725 7 Claims. (Cl. 297-89) The present invention relates to improvements in reclining chairs of the type which includes a movable body supporting unit comprising a seat and back-rest and a movable leg-rest mounted at the forward end of the chair for coordinated movement with the body-supporting unit. In particular, this invention relates to a reclining chair in which the seat and back-rest are formed as a rigid unit which is mounted on the support for movement between a normal sitting position, an intermediate semi-reclined or tilted position, and a fully-tilted position.

The well-known reclining chair presently on the market comprises generally a seat and back-rest unit in which the seat and back-rest may be rigid with each other and pivoted as a unit on the support, or in which the seat and back-rest may be independently pivoted on the support for movement relative to each other. A leg-rest is nor mally connected through a linkage to the seat and backrest unit and/ or to the support in such a manner as to be provided with coordinated movement in response to movement of the seat and back-rest unit. The usual reclining chair has been designed to permit the body-supporting unit to move from a normal upright sitting position in which the leg-rest is in a retracted position beneath the seat, to a reclined position in which both seat and backrest are rearwardly tilted and the leg-rest is in an extended position.

A recent development in reclining chairs has been the so-called double movement chair in which the seat and back-rest are independently mounted on the support for movement relative to each other and in which such mounting means are provided as to permit the seat and backrest unit to move to two distinct positions of repose. The first position of repose is an intermediate semi-reclined position in which the readers body is still substantially upright and the user is in position to read, view television or the like, and the leg-rest is fully extended to a leg-supporting position. The second position of repose is a fully-reclined position in which both the seat and back-rest are inclined rearwardly at a greater angle and the body is supported in a completely relaxed reclining position, with the leg-rest maintained in its extended, legsupporting position. Such a double-movement reclining chair is disclosed, for example, in my co-pending United States patent application, Serial No. 740,215, filed June 6, 1958, now Patent No. 3,014,758, issued December 26, 1961.

According to the present invention I provide a reclining chair which may be designated as a two-position chair and which differs from the aforementioned doublemovement chair in that the seat and back-rest instead of being movable relative to each other, are formed integrally with each other or are rigidly and immovably connected to each other to provide a rigid body-supporting unit. This two position chair is mounted on the support by mounting means so constructed as to permit the unit to be moved rearwardly first to an intermediate semireclined or tilted position in which the body is still substantially upright, and then to a fully-tilted position in which the rigid body-supporting unit is rearwardly tilted at a greater angle and the body is supported in a position of maximum relaxation. The chair is provided with a movable leg-rest mounted on a linkage which is responsive to movement of the body-supporting unit to move to an extended leg-supporting posit-ion when the unit is brought to its intermediate tilted position and to remain in this extended position when the unit is moved further rearwardly to its fully-tilted position.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved mounting means for movably mounting the body supporting unit on the support and an improved legrest control means which is so co-related to the mounting means that the body-supporting unit is caused to follow a designated path of movement in reaching its intermediate tilted position, is then caused to follow a different path of movement in reaching its fully-tilted position, and the leg-rest isbrought to its extended position in the intermediate tilted position of the unit and is locked in this position by a self-locking action of the leg-rest control means whereby it is fixed in this extended position during further movement of the unit to its fully-tilted position.

The above object 'is achieved by providing front and rear guiding means for the body-supporting unit in the nature of slide members upon which the body-supporting unit may slide in a rearward movement from its upright sitting position to its intermediate tilted position. In one illustrated embodiment, the slide members comprise a pair of rollers upon which the body-supporting unit rests. In another embodiment the rear slide member is a roller while the front slide member is a link. Upon reaching the intermediate tilted position a stop member on the body supporting unit engages the rear roller and stops further rearward sliding movement. The axle of the rear roller then becomes a fixed pivot point about which the bodysupporting unit turns in a simple pivoting movement from its intermediate tilted position to its fully-tilted position, the front end of the unit rising from its supported engagement with the front guiding means, which may be either a roller or link. In the case of the link, a slot is provided to permit this rising movement of the front end of the body supporting means.

The leg-rest is mounted on the front of the seat and is connected by a single control link to the support in such a manner that when the unit is brought to its intermediate tilted position and the front end of the seat is raised, the control link pivots upwardly to raise the leg-rest from a retracted to an extended position and by suitable location of the various pivot points is prevented from pivoting downward, thereby holding the leg-rest in said extended position. When the unit is brought to its filllY- reclined position, the control link pivots upwardly to maintain the leg-rest in its extended position.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent during the course of the following specification when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational View of a reclining chair made in accordance with the present invention and shown in its upright sitting position, with parts broken away and shown in section to reveal inner constructional detail;

FIG. 2 is a similar side elevational view of the chair illustrated in FIG. 1, but showing the body-supporting unit in an intermediate tilted position and the leg-rest in extended position;

FIG. 3 is a similar side elevational view of the chair illustrated in FIG. 1, but showing the body-supporting unit in a fully-tilted position and the leg-rest in a corresponding extended position;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational'view of a modified embodiment of chair made in accordance with the invention and shown in an upright sitting position, with portions broken away and shown in section;

FIG. 5 is a similar elevational view of the chair illustrated in FIG. 4, but showing the body-supporting unit in an intermediate tilted position and the leg-rest in extended position; and

FIG. 6 is a similar elevational view of the chair of FIG. 4, but showing the body-supporting unit in a fully-tilted position and the leg-rest in a corresponding extended position.

Referring in detail to the drawings, there is shown in FIGS. 1-3 a chair including a support frame or base structure 10 upon which is movably mounted a bodysupporting unit designated generally by the reference numeral 12. The latter comprises a seat 14 and a back-rest 16 which are formed integrally with each other to provide a rigid unit.

The body-supporting unit 12 is mounted on the support 10 for rearward tilting movement by a slide assembly which may be of any suitable form and arrangement, and which for purposes of illustration is shown herein as including front and rear guiding means comprising a pair of rollers 18 and 20 journalled by respective axles 22 and 24 on the support 10. The rollers 18 and 20 are spaced from each other longitudinally of the chair, and are positioned to engage and support the bottom surface of the body-supporting unit 12 whereby to permit sliding movement of the latter upon the support 10.

It will be observed that the bottom surface of the body supporting unit 12 is shaped to provide a cam surface, the cam surface including an upwardly-inclined surface 14a leading from the rear of the body-supporting unit to approximately the center thereof, and a downwardly-inclined surface 14b leading from the upwardly-inclined surface 14a to the front end of the body-supporting unit.

A stop member 26 is immovably fixed to the bottom surface of the seat 14 at a point slightly rearwardly of the junction of the cam surfaces 14a and 14b. The stop member 26 depends from the bottom surface of the seat and has an arcuately-shaped rear surface 28 which conforms in diameter to the rear roller 18. The stop member 26 is positioned to engage the rear roller 18 when the bodysupporting unit 12 is slid rearwardly upon the rollers 18 and 20, and act as a pivotal bearing surface for the roller 18 as will be presently described. To avoid contact of the stop member 26 with the front roller 20 when the bodysupporting unit is in its upright sitting position of FIG. 1, the stop member may be offset laterally from the front roller 20 and in alignment with the rear roller 18, or the rear roller 18 may be made wider than the front roller 20 in order to provide a lateral area positioned to engage said stop member.

In the upright sitting position shown in FIG. 1, the body-supporting unit 12 rests upon both rollers 18 and 20, the rear roller 18 being in engagement with the cam surface 14a and the front roller 20 being in engagement with the cam surface 14b.

When the body-supporting unit 12 is moved rearwardly to the intermediate tilted position of FIG. 2, the cam surfaces 14a and 14b ride easily upon the respective rollers 18 and 20. The upwardly-inclined cam surface 14a in traversing the roller 18 causes the rear portion of the body-supporting unit to be slightly lowered. At the same time, the downwardly-inclined cam surface 14b, in traversing the front roller 20, causes the forward portion of the seat to be slightly raised, with the result that in the intermediate position of FIG. 2, the body-supporting unit 16 is tilted rearwardly and has moved horizontally rearwardly relative to the support frame 10.

The intermediate tilted position of FIG. 2 is determined by engagement of the stop member 26 with the rear roller 18, which prevents further rearward sliding movement of the body supporting unit 12 upon the pair of rollers 18 and 20. In this limit position, the rollers 18 and 20 are located at the forward ends of the respective cam surfaces 14a and 14b, as is clearly shown in FIG. 2.

Since further rearward sliding or rolling movement is prevented by engagement of the stop member 26 with roller 18, a different path of movement must be provided to enable the body supporting unit 12 to be moved from the intermediate tilted position to a fully-tilted position.

This is accomplished by the arcuate rear surface 28 of the stop member 26. This arcuate surface 28 abuts and frictionally engages the outer surface of the rear roller 18, coupling the rear roller 18 to the seat 14 and converting the roller axle 22 into a fixed pivot about which the body supporting unit may turn in a simple pivoting motion. Since the stop member 26 is located at or close to the center of the body-supporting unit 12, pivoting movement of the latter about the fixed pivot 22 causes the front portion thereof to be further raised and the rear portion thereof to be further lowered. The fully-tilted position of the unit, shown in FIG. 3, is determined by the engagement of the rear end of the unit with a cross-brace 30 which forms a part of the support frame 10, the cross-brace 30 preventing further rearward pivoting movement of the body-supporting means.

The chair structure also includes a leg-rest 32 mounted on the seat 14 for movement between the retracted position shown in FIG. 1 to the extended positions shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The leg-rest 32 is carried by an angular mounting arm 34, the free end of which is pivotally mounted on the front end of the seat by a pivot 36. Movement of the leg-rest 34 is effected by a control link 38, one end of which is pivotally mounted on the support frame 10 by pivot 40, and the other end of which is pivotally connected to the leg-rest 32 and/ or the mounting arm 34 by a pivot 42.

In the upright sitting position of the chair shown in FIG. 1, the control link maintains the leg-rest 32 in its retracted position in which it extends below and rearwardly of the front end of the seat 14. The leg-rest is held from downward pivoting movement by the control link 38 since the leg-rest must pivot downwardly and forwardly in a counter-clockwise path about its pivot 36, and the control link 38 must pivot downwardly and rearwardly in a clockwise direction about its pivot 40.

When the body-supporting unit 12 is slid rearwardly to its intermediate tilted position of FIG. 2, the leg-rest pivot 36 is moved rearwardly toward the fixed pivot 40 of control link 38. The control link 38 thus pushes forwardly upon the leg-rest 32 at the pivot point 42, causing the legrest to pivot upwardly about its pivot 36. When the body supporting unit reaches its intermediate tilted position, the leg-rest 32 has pivoted to an extended position forwardly of and substantially at the level of the front end of the seat and is held in this position by the control link 38. This holding function of the control link 38 is determined by the difference in the two arcs of travel which the control link and the leg-rest would have to travel at point 42 in order to pivot downwardly from the extended position of FIG. 2. It will be appreciated that in order for the control link 38 to pivot downwardly, the portion of the control link at point 42 must travel through an arc whose radius is the distance between the pivot 40 and the pivot 42. In order for the leg-rest 32 to pivot downwardly, the portion of the leg-rest at pivot 42 must travel through an arc of smaller radius in a different path, this radius being the distance between the pivot 36 and pivot 42. Consequently, the leg-rest cannot be lowered from its extended position of FIG. 2 unless the body-supporting unit is moved forwardly, changing the location of pivot 36 relative to the fixed pivot 40.

In the intermediate tilted position of FIG. 2, the occupants body is still in a substantially upright position with the eyes forwardly directed for viewing television, reading, holding conversations and the like. At the same time, the occupants legs are supported in outstretched condition by the extended leg-rest. The rearward shift of weight of the occupants torso is offset by the weight of occupants outstretched legs, so that the center of weight of the body-supporting unit and the occupant is located forwardly of the rear roller 18. The movement of the body-supporting unit therefore stops at the intermediate tilted position of FIG. 2 and a further effort on the part of the occupant is necessary to cause the unit to move further rearwardly, as will be presently explained.

Should the person sitting in the chair Wish to return from the intermediate tilted position of FIG. 2 to the upright sitting position of FIG. 1, pressure of the persons legs upon the leg-rest 32 will urge the body-supporting unit 12 forwardly upon the rollers 18 and 28. At the same time, this forward movement of the seat will cause the control link 38 to lower the leg-rest 32 to its retracted position.

If, however, the person sitting in the intermediate tilted position of FIG. 2 wishes to move to the fully-tilted position of FIG. 3, a slight rearward pressure against the back-rest 16 will initiate the second movement phase. The body-supporting unit now tilts rearwardly in a simple pivoting movement about the axle 22 of the rear roller 18. This movement continues until the rear end of the unit engages the stop member 3!} and the unit is now in the fully-tilted position of FIG. 3 in which the users body is disposed in a supine position for complete relaxation.

As the body-supporting unit moves to the completely tilted position, the front of the seat 14 is raised and the location of the pivot 36 is changed relative to the fixed pivot 40. The control link 38 therefore pivots further upwardly, in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3, raising the leg-rest 32 relative to the support and maintaining the leg-rest in its extended position at the level of the front of the seat 14, as shown in FIG. 3. Again, the difference in the pivotal paths of the control link 38 and the leg-rest 32 at point 42, maintains the leg-rest in the extended position of FIG. 3 while the body-supporting unit remains in the fully-tilted position.

When the person sitting in the fully-tilted position wishes to return to the intermediate tilted position, a forward shift of body weight will cause the unit to pivot forwardly about the rear roller axle 22.

A coiled tension spring 46 may be employed where required to assist in returning the body-supporting unit from the intermediate tilted position to the upright sitting position. The spring 46 may be attached to any suitable part of the chair, and by way of illustration is shown connected at one end to a bracket 48 secured to the bottom rear end of the body supporting unit 12, and at the other end to a pin 50 rigidly fixed to the support frame 11) forwardly of the bracket 48. When the unit is slid rearwardly to its intermediate tilted position, the spring 46 is elongated and tensioned, and its forward biasing force may then be utilized to assist the user to bring the unit back to the upright sitting position.

The embodiment shown in FIGS. 4-6 is similar to that shown in FIGS. 1-3 and just described except that it has a somewhat modified structure in that a link and a pin and slot connection is employed as the front guiding means for the forward end of the seat, instead of the roller. In FIGS. 4-6, like parts are given the same reference numerals, except that the reference numerals are of the 10d series.

The body-supporting unit .112 including a rigid seat 114 and back-rest 116 is again mounted on a support frame 110 by front and rear guiding means. The rear guiding means again comprises a roller 118 mounted on an axle 122 which is fixed to the support frame 110. The front guiding means in this instance comprises a guide link 160 mounted at its lower end on the support frame 110 by a pivot 162, and having at its upper end an elongated, longitudinally-extending slot 164. The seat 114, at its forward end, carries a depending bracket 166 upon which a pin 168 is rigidly mounted. The pin 168 extends through the slot 164 for sliding movement between the top and bottom thereof,

In the upright sitting position of the unit shown in FIG. 4, the link 160 is inclined upwardly and forwardly from its pivot 162, and the pin 168 is located at the bottom end of the slot 164. The bottom end of slot 164 engages the pin 168 and thus prevents the forward end 6 of the seat 114 from moving downwardly. The bodysupporting unit 112 is thus supported at its forward end by the link 160, and at its rearward end by the roller 118.

In moving from the upright sitting position to the intermediate tilted position of FIG. 6, the unit slides rearwardly upon the roller 118. At the same time, the link 160 pivots rearwardly about the pivot 162 carrying rearward-1y the forward end of the seat 114 and slightly raising the forward end relative to the rear end. The pin 168 remains at the bottom end of the slot 164 and the forward end of the seat continues to be supported by engagement of said pin and slot. The limit of movement of the unit into the intermediate tilted position is again determined by engagement of the arcuate rear surface 128 of stop member 126 with the roller 118.

In moving from the intermediate tilted position of FIG. 5 to the fully tilted position of FIG. 6, the body-supporting unit 112 turns in a simple pivoting movement about the axle 122 of roller 118. Raising of the forward end of the seat 114 is now permitted by the presence of the slot 164, the pin 168 being carried upward with the seat 1 14 and sliding upwardly in slot 164. While the path of movement of the pin 168 is along an arcuate path as determined by the fixed pivot 122, the link 160 will pivot slightly about its pivot 162 to permit the pin 168 to freely traverse the slot 164.

The limit of movement into the fully-tilted position of FIG. 6 is determined by engagement of the rear lower surface of the body-supporting unit with the stop 13d and by engagement of the pin 168 with the top end of slot 164.

The chair of FIGS. 4-6 also includes a leg-rest 132 carried by a mounting arm 134 which is pivotally connected to the front end of the seat 114 by a pivot 136. The leg-rest movement is controlled by a control arm 138, one end of which is pivotally mounted on the support frame by pivot 140, and the other end of which is pivotally connected to the leg-rest 132 and/ or the mounting arm '134 by a pivot 142.

The leg-rest structure is identical to that shown in the chair of FIGS. 13, except that the control link 138 is shown to be bent or angularly formed in order to prevent binding with the front guiding means during movement of the unit. The leg-rest assembly operates in a manner similar to that previously described in connection with the chair of FIGS. 1-3, being raised from its retracted position of FIG. 4 to its extended position of FIG. 5 when the unit is moved to its intermediate tilted position, and being maintained in its extended position when the unit is further moved to its fully-tilted position.

While preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and described herein, it is obvious that numerous omissions, changes and additions may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a reclining chair having a support frame and a body-supporting unit including a seat and a back-rest rigid with each other, control means supporting said bodysupporting unit and guiding the same for movement through a first motion phase from an upright sitting position to an intermediate tilted position and then through a second motion phase from said intermediate tilted position to a fully-tilted position, said control means comprising front and rear guide means pivotally mounted on the support frame and respectively supporting the front and rear portions of said unit and guiding said unit for rearward sliding movement through said first motion phase, said rear guide means comprising a roller mounted on said support frame and engaging and supporting the lower surface of said body-supporting unit, a stop on said seat positioned to engage said roller when the unit has reached its intermediate tilted position to block further rearward movement of said unit through said first motion phase along both guide means, said stop member locking said roller to said seat whereby further movement of said seat is a pivotal movement through said second motion phase about the axis of said roller, the front portion of said unit rising from its supported engagement with the front guide means during said second motion phase.

2. A reclining chair comprising a support frame, a bodysupporting unit including a seat and a back-rest rigid with each other, front and rear guiding means mounting the body-supporting unit on the support frame for initial movement through a first motion phase from an upright sitting position to an intermediate tilted position and subsequent movement through a second motion phase from said intermediate tilted position to a fully-tilted position, the rear guiding means comprising a roller element having a rotary axis mounted on the support frame, the rear portion of said body-supporting unit resting upon said roller element and sliding rearwardly thereon when the unit is moved through said first motion phase from its upright sitting position to its intermediate tilted position, the front guiding means comprising a member movably mounted on the support frame and supporting the front portion of the body-supporting unit in its movement through said first motion phase to its intermediate tilted position, and stop means on the body-supporting unit positioned to engage said rear guiding means and stop further rearward movement of said unit along both the front and rear guiding means when the unit has reached its intermediate tilted position, said stop means cooperating with the rear guide means to cause the rotary axis of said roller element to serve as a fixed pivot about which the body-supporting unit turns in further movement through said second motion phase from the intermediate tilted position to the fully-tilted position, the front portion of the unit rising from its supported relationship with the front guiding means during said second motion phase.

3. A reclining chair according to claim 2 in which said front guiding means comprises a roller element having a rotary axis mounted on the support frame.

4. A reclining chair according to claim 2 in which said front guiding means comprises a link pivotally mounted on the support frame and a pin and slot connection between said link and the front portion of the bodysupporting unit.

5. A reclining chair having a support frame, a bodysupporting unit including a seat and a back-rest rigid with each other, the bottom surface of said seat having a down- Wardly and forwardly inclined front portion and a downwardly and rearwardly inclined rear portion, and guiding means for said body supporting unit adapted to guide said unit in a selected path of movement between an upright sitting position and an intermediate tilted position and in a different path of movement between said intermediate tilted position and a fully tilted position, said guiding means comprising a front roller rotatably mounted on the support and a rear roller rotatably mounted on the support, the seat front portion resting on said front roller and the seat rear portion resting on said rear roller for rearward sliding movement of the seat along said rollers, a stop member on said seat engaging said rear roller and limiting further rearward sliding movement of said seat on said rollers, the inclined portions of the seat cooperating with said rollers to position said body-supporting unit in an intermediate tilted position when said stop element engages said rear roller, said stop element being arcuately shaped to frictionally engage said rear roller and to turn with said seat rearwardly about the rotational axis of said rear roller whereby the body-supporting unit is brought to said fully-tilted position, the front portion of the seat bottom surface rising from said front roller in said fully tilted position.

6. A reclining chair comprising a support frame and a body-supporting unit including a seat and a back-rest rigid with each other, front and rear guiding means mounting the body-supporting unit on the support frame for initial movement linearly in a rearward direction through a first motion phase and subsequent pivotal movement about a fixed pivot through a second motion phase, the rear guiding means comprising a roller element having a rotary axis mounted on the support frame, the rear portion of said body-supporting unit resting upon said roller element and rolling rearwardly thereon when the unit is moved rearwardly in its first motion phase, the front guiding means comprising a member turnably mounted on the support frame and supporting the front portion of the body-supporting unit in said first motion phase, stop means on the body-supporting unit positioned to engage said rear guiding means at the limit of said first motion phase, said stop means cooperating with the rear guide means to cause the rotary axis of said roller element to serve as the fixed pivot about which the body-supporting unit turns in said second motion phase, the front portion of the unit rising from its supported relationship with the front guiding means during said second motion phase, a leg-rest, pivot means mounting the leg-rest on said seat for pivotal movement between a retracted position below the seat and an extended position forwardly of the seat, said legrest being movable rearwardly with the seat during said first motion phase, and control means connected to said leg-rest and responsive to rearward movement of said leg-rest with said seat in said first motion phase for moving said leg-rest about its pivotal mount on the seat to its extended position.

7. In a reclining chair having a support frame and a body-supporting structure including a seat and a back-rest, seat control means mounting the seat on the support frame for initial movement through a first motion phase from a sitting position to an intermediate tilted position and subsequent movement through a second motion phase from said intermediate tilted position to a fully reclined position, said seat control means comprising front and rear guide members on the support frame and operatively supporting the front and rear portions of said seat for rearward movement of the seat along a first path of movement through said first motion phase to said intermediate tilted position, the rear guiding means comprising a roller element having a rotary axis mounted on the support frame, the rear portion of said seat resting upon said roller element and moving rearwardly therealong during the first motion phase, a stop member carried by said seat and positioned to engage and grasp said roller element when the seat has reached its intermediate tilted position to block further rearward movement of the seat along said first path of movement whereby further movement of the seat is limited to pivoting movement about the rotary axis of said roller element on the support frame along a second path of movement, the front guide member having a lost motion engagement with the seat permitting the forward end of the seat to rise relative to the support frame during the second motion phase.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,548,570 Udd Apr. 10, 1951 2,743,765 Lorenz May 1, 1956 2,875,812 Schliephacke Mar. 3, 1959 2,903,045 Viall Sept. 8, 1959 2,940,510 Schliephacke June 14, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 42,408 France Apr. 25, 1933 213,084 Australia Aug. 2, 1956 

